


the montparnasse scene’s downgraded, budget-sliced, straight-to-video of a sequel (or: adrien takes a tumble)

by bugaboo_n_bananoir



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Humor, Identity Reveal, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24810193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugaboo_n_bananoir/pseuds/bugaboo_n_bananoir
Summary: Once upon a time, Adrien Agreste fell in love. More currently? He fell off a rock wall. In both instances, Ladybug is more-or-less to blame.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 92
Kudos: 300





	the montparnasse scene’s downgraded, budget-sliced, straight-to-video of a sequel (or: adrien takes a tumble)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a belated birthday gift for the APS server, but it doubles as a celebration of Ladrien June. Thanks to everyone on the server for all the help & encouragement!

Mount Everest: over 8 thousand meters of unforgiving, rocky allure.

Adrien’s rock wall?: around 6 meters of boredom-crushing fun—an amateur climber’s delight.

Adrien cracked his knuckles, staring up determinedly at the first foothold. “This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

“That’s space travel, kid.”

“Hush,” he lightly prodded his shirt pocket, where Plagg lay, sparing no more than a brief glare at the kwami. “I barely got to make any alien or astronaut jokes when I was _actually_ in space. I’m just making up for lost time is all.”

His determination steadfast despite the interruption, Adrien quickly ran a thumb over the charms of his lucky bracelet and took to scaling. Sure, he’d done this same climb hundreds of times—it was one of the few activities in his room that wasn’t obviously intended to be done with friends—but after his run-in with Gorizilla he definitely didn’t scoff at a _smidgeon_ of extra good fortune where heights were concerned.

Moving swiftly and deftly, he soon found himself with a whole new perspective. It was one of his favorite things about climbing; not only was it good exercise, but combined with the view out of his colossal windows, it made for sights he normally needed Chat Noir’s abilities to attain. The more he danced along the brightly colored artificial rocks, limbs moving in near-perfect muscle memory from years of familiarity, the more free he felt in his otherwise constricting room. Plagg’s content, lazy purring as he rode passenger against his chest certainly made it more fun, too.

A slight breeze drifted in through the nearest open window. Adrien hummed to himself, his eyes closing as he basked in the feeling of the warm evening air. When they opened again moments later to once again drink in the sights, he managed to miss the telltale flash of red and black blurring by as Ladybug, passing by on patrol, stopped on his sill. As he watched the world go by outside, she studied him as intently as though he were _her_ world. And perhaps in her mind he was.

“What a view,” Adrien mused aloud.

“No kidding.” Ladybug unthinkingly replied. Instantly his attention snapped to the hero.

She looked downright angelic framed by the golden light of the setting sun, the illusion only ruined by her awkward expression and the shock her presence brought. She looked as if she’d been caught stealing the last cookie from the jar, eyes impossibly wide and mouth caught in an undignified grimace. As his thoughts finally caught up enough to process that _yes, Ladybug was in his room_ , he pieced together she’d clearly meant _he_ was her view.

“Ah, geez.” The whiplash of the moment proved to get the better of Adrien, as he felt his foot slip from where it’d been securely stationed only moments ago. His stomach lurched as gravity reclaimed him, further reminding him, as Plagg had done, that he was hardly an astronaut. 

Just great. This was it. He was gonna die—in front of the _love of his life,_ no less—and his last words would be _Ah, geez_.

“Pivot! Aim for your couch! Stop, drop, and roll!” Ladybug yelled senseless directions his way, clearly at a loss for what to do. It was no use anyhow. She winced at the impact of him crashing to the ground, weakly clapping in what he could only assume was an attempt to salvage his pride. “Oops...good effort, Adrien! You’ll get ‘em next time, champ!”

He couldn’t tell if the fall had given him a slight concussion, or if Ladybug was _actually_ in his room, applauding him for falling off a rock wall of all things. He’d certainly had _weirder_ days. On the off chance she _was,_ he whipped out his best model smile.

“So….come here often?” _What kind of stupid question is_ that?! He was praying he was concussed now, if only to have an excuse for his floundering.

“No. Do you?” _Definitely_ concussed. Or perhaps she was simply playing along to keep him from dying of embarrassment.

“I live here, Ladybug.”

“…Cool.”

“ _Cool_.” Not cool! No semblance of cool to be found! Ladybug was gonna think he was a whole freak-and-a-half if he didn’t get his act together soon. “So…what’d you drop by for?”

“Well, I knew your fencing lessons ended eighteen minutes or so ago,” _Her Miraculous grants her omniscience?_ His only gave him a bad rash. He fiddled with it absently as she continued, “and I saw your window was open, so I thought ‘Oh, why not! It’s a slow patrol day anyway!’ But then you seemed busy and I started second-guessing everything, and then by the time I realized I should probably just leave, you were _falling_ and— _oh no, you’re still on the floor!_ Let me help you!”

“Oh, no, really I’m fine! I can get up, the fall only dazed me a bit and…and...” And _what_ ? He couldn’t remember what’d he’d been about to say—or any other French for that matter—as she deftly scooped him up into a bridal carry. Their eyes locked. He wasn’t sure what would happen next. He wasn’t sure _she_ knew, either. 

(Quite frankly, though, she could proceed to hurl him out the still-open window and he’d thank her for it.) 

Adrien’s brain screamed at him to do or say anything to keep the moment from ending any time soon. He desperately wanted this to last. He was hoping for forever; he would settle for a second. A joke, maybe? “Scratch that. Suddenly it appears my legs are broken.”

Success. Maybe _too_ successful, even. Laughter bubbled up out of her, a light giggle that soon turned to snorts and wheezes as her whole body shook with amusement. The sound was like music to his ears, but the jostling had him scrambling to latch onto her like a koala high on protein powder—he didn’t need to fall in front of Ladybug twice in one evening, thank you very much. 

Somehow sensing his mild distress (either through the use of her magical omniscience, or because he’d pitifully yelped “Please don’t drop me”—he couldn’t be sure), she carefully moved him onto his couch. _Rats_. Before Adrien could reach the realization that it was probably pretty unbecoming of him to pout about her releasing him, Ladybug had dropped to her knees on the ground beside him, scrambling all along his bedroom floor.

“Uhhh…?”

“Something dropped out of your pocket when you fell. The least I can do is help you find it again before I get back to patrolling.” _Huh?_ His mind raced trying to place what she possibly could’ve seen, every possibility feeling increasingly more embarrassing. One of his action figures, maybe? No, that couldn’t be it; he hadn’t taken either of the dolls on a joyride since he’d dropped one and nearly busted its arm. One quick look confirmed it: LadyBarbie and Chat “Be Who Mew Wanna Be” Noir were still exactly where he’d last left them, having a date in the dollhouse. So what, then? He’d been fairly certain it was only Plagg in his—oh.

“Oh _no_.”

“Did you say something, Adrien?” _She can’t find Plagg, she can’t find Plagg, she can’t find Plagg, she can’t—_

“I’ll help you look!” _Idiot_ . He could just imagine Plagg, hidden somewhere, snickering at his misfortune. Adrien almost wished he _were_ laughing at him; at least that’d clue him in on where _not_ to have Ladybug look.

Unsure how best to look productive without the risk of compromising his kwami, Adrien defaulted to playing dumb. His palms smacked the floor around him, specifically targeting the dustiest spots he could find. The smacking echoed in the quiet room. After a good few pats—and pointedly ignoring the feel of Ladybug’s staring against the back of his neck—he proudly presented his messy hands like a preschooler who’d gotten into the fingerpaints.

“Dirt. Dirty.” Why had the French language forsaken him? Couldn’t the (dirty) floor do him a favor by opening up and swallowing him whole? Would that be too much to ask? “Shower time! It’s the model in me. You get it. Splish splash.”

Seeing her nose scrunch in confusion as she mouthed “Splish splash?” was the final straw for his dignity. With a flash of ( _dirty_ ) finger guns he was gone, stumbling in a race to his bathroom. Once inside, he found himself muffling a scream with one fist: partially at his gracelessness in front of his lady moments before, and partially at the sight of how mortifyingly red his face had become from the whole ordeal. He stared intently at his tomato of a reflection, willing his complexion to chill out. Hopefully it hadn’t been _too_ noticeable. Anyone with eyes knew such a bright red was more of Ladybug’s color than his own, after all.

“Everything alright in there?”

“Yeah! Yup! Everything’s peachy! Just…the water’s too hot!”

“...the water’s not _running_ , Adrien. Are you _sure_ you’re fine?” _Whoops_ . There went the blush again. He swore he could even see his soul leave his body if he looked closely enough in the mirror. Panicking, he _finally_ switched the shower on.

“Huh, what? Sorry! Can’t hear you—the water’s too loud!”

Adrien slumped against the wall, running a hand over his face in exasperation. Time to wait out the embarrassment for the duration of a shower. Or, maybe, he ought to just spend the remainder of his days locked in his bathroom for good. His rubber duck was more than enough company, and if he needed sustenance he could always try eating one of the dried out rose petals lining the bottom of his tub. Rose petals were edible, right? The curious, panic mode-driven half of Adrien wanted to test one out as a snack to be sure. Luckily the impulse control half of him won out. He could cross that bridge if and when he got to it.

“What’re _you_ looking at?” he demanded of his duck companion. Sure, the eyes were just painted on—and chipped, at that—but he swore could feel their judgement nonetheless. So much for a camp-out companion. Two minutes in and already too paranoid, he turned the toy to face it away from himself.

With little else to serve as a distraction, he made his way to the sink. It would do him absolutely no good to leave his sanctuary with entirely dry hair and _still_ _dirty_ hands. Winking to his reflection (“Resourceful, Adrien!— _oh,_ please _don’t make talking to yourself a habit…_ ”) he cleaned up a bit, wetting his hair to what he hoped would look appropriately just-washed (“Looking sharp, Adri— _what did I just say?!”_ ).

He was ready. He was back on top. He was cool, calm, collected. He was eight steps ahead of Ladybug. He wouldn’t embarrass himself. He’d accounted for _everything_.

“Adrien! I found it!”

 _...Almost_ everything. He’d entirely forgotten she was still looking for Plagg. In his haste to get out of his bathroom, he forgot to actually open the door and conked his nose right on it. Once he _did_ make it out, he immediately started stumbling into a half-hearted explanation.

“Is your face oka—?”

“It’s not what you think! There’s a perfectly reasonable— I mean it’s funny actually, I— he’s, uh, he’s just a friend! Just a little guy! Absolutely nothing more to it than that!” Hysterics out of his system, he blinked slowly upon recognizing what _exactly_ Ladybug was holding: not Plagg himself, but Plagg’s sock _decoy_.

“Adrien, it’s okay. It’s cute, even! I keep dolls and stuff too. Does your friend have a name?” She looked embarrassed...why was _she_ embarrassed? He was the one thrown into a conniption over a sock of all things. He rubbed at his still-sore nose, aware his face was probably already back to it’s obnoxious red tint from earlier. He’d known it before, but she really was too nice for her own good. She passed him the culprit of his misfortune. Discount Plagg would probably get along with his rubber duck, now that he was thinking on it—both seemed to have it out for him.

“This is a sock.”

“It’s...well, yeah?”

“A sock. Heh. What a relief, I thought you’d found Plagg!”

“Come again?”

He couldn’t remember drinking a nice, chilled glass of idiot juice with his breakfast that morning. Yet here he was anyway, reaping the consequences. Would it be suspicious to take a second fake shower?

“Uhhh... _miraculous ladybug!_ ” Adrien panicked, throwing the toy toward the ceiling. _Nice save_.

“That’s _my_ power, Adrien.” _Terrible save_. Absolutely atrocious. Disgraceful, even. No amount of standing there with his eyes scrunched tightly shut would cause a swarm of magical bugs to save him from himself.

“Right. Hmm. Okay.” If there was a way to salvage this, it wasn’t coming to him. “Do you...come here often?”

“You already used that one!” Ladybug laughed. Good, at least she wasn’t furious with him right now. He sighed, resigning himself to whatever intense, world-changing, identity-crushing conversation would likely follow.

“Alright, well. I guess I owe you an explanation.” He took a deep breath. Was it weird that he felt self conscious about his breathing at a time like this? A sigh, an obnoxiously loud inhale...all he needed was to start hyperventilating to complete the trifecta. That was beside the point, though. “I’ve got a severe case of idiot-itis. The worst in the city, actually. There is no cure.”

“Terribly contagious, too. I’ll bet I caught it from running around on rooftops with you all the time.” There she went, smiling warmly, with a twinkle to her eyes that just about made him melt. How was it that even as he joked his way through an impromptu reveal she could turn him to putty in her hands? “Or...maybe I caught it from sitting behind you in class?”

No way. _No way!_ But yes way, apparently. 

She detransformed before his eyes, and there she was in all her supposedly idiotic (he’d have to fight her on that) glory.

“Am I in the hospital? Is that what’s happening?”

“Chat. _Adrien_. You’re fine.” Marinette assured him, tentatively taking his hand in hers. She paused. Her eyes caught on his nose and he rubbed it again self consciously. “Except...your nose might be bruised? That’s, ehm. Well, I didn’t want to ruin the moment by bringing it up. Looks awfully painful, though.”

“Maybe a little,” he admitted. With barely a hint of hesitation, she popped up on her tiptoes and kissed the tip of his nose. Her earrings’ magic couldn’t hold a candle to the healing power of her kisses, he decided.

“Better?”

“Better.”

First a romantic, mid-air catch and now _this_? Adrien was gonna have to see Nathalie about adding “fall from large heights” to his official schedule if it meant such quality time with Ladybug. 

_But first: time to invest in a helmet._


End file.
